Adjustable chair



1943- c. M. R. DE B. ANTER 2,452,140

ADJUSTABLE CHAIR Filed May 7, 1946 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 Attorney 05d. 26, 19 c. M. R..DE B. PANTER ADJUSTABLE CHAIR 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Ma 'r, 1946 m mm h$ OW. m, a 0 v w Um! v w ETH N.w\h\ W H Oc 26, 9 8- c. M. '12. DE 15.. l 'ANTER ADJUSTABLE CHAIR Filed May '1, 1946 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 Attorney F c. M. R. DE B. PANTER 2,452,140

Oct. 26 1948.

ADJUSTABLE CHAIR 4 She ets-Sheet 4 Filed May 7, 1946 Patented Oct. 26, 1948 ADJUSTABLE CHAIR Charles Maxwell Roscoe de Buire Panter, Harlington, England, assignor to Shrager Bros. Limited,

London, England Application May 7, 1946, Serial No. 667,874 In Great Britain May 7,1945

3 Claims.

This invention relates to adjustable chairs and it has for its object the construction of an arm chair (a) which is built up of a plurality of separate sections, primarily designed for export purposes, adapted to be assembled together and maintained in position by spacing members, (1)) which will when assembled and fully upholstered have the appearance of an ordinary padded easy chair and (c) which will enable same to be used so that the user may sit in an approximately upright position or in a semi-reclining position, or in one or more intermediate positions, the change in position being effected by the operation of one or more control devices without the user rising from the chair.

To attain these ends the chair comprises a framework embodying two side frames constituting the arms and sides of the chair, means for securing said side frames in rigid relationship, a back frame and a seat frame hinged together, the back frame being pivoted adjacent the lower end thereof in the side frames, the seat frame being pivoted adjacent its front end in said side frames, means permitting the pivot members of both back and seat frames to be raised or lowered and means for effecting and controlling the movements of said back and seat frames.

In the accompanying drawings which illustrate this invention, the padding of the several parts and the upholstery have been omitted for the purpose of showing the framework and operative parts of the chair, which constitute the essential features of the invention, with greater clearness:

' Figure 1, is a perspective view of the frame- Work of the chair in assembled relationship.

Figure 2 is a sectional side elevation approximately on the line II-II of Figure 3.

Figure 2A is a sectional side elevation of the front part of one of the side arms.

Figure 3 is a vertical transverse section on line III-III of Figure 2.

Figure 4 is a vertical transverse section on line IV-IV of Figure 2.

Figure 5 is a plan of the seat frame and of. the means for supporting the forward part thereof in theiframe.

7 Figure 6 is a longitudinal vertical section through the front transversely disposedseat supporting element, drawn to an enlarged scale, and

Figure 7 is a sectional end view on line VII--VII of Figure 6, drawn to a still larger scale of a form of locking means.

According to the embodiment of the invention illustrated in the drawings, the several frame sections comprising two side frames l and 2 seat frame 3 and back frame 4, are built up of metal stampings or pressings of approximately rectangular formation. The two side frames l and 2 are held in rigid spaced relationship by transversely arranged front and rear spacing plate membersfi and 6 and a pair of diagonally disposed stays 7 and 8, said spacing plate members andstays being secured to the side members by bolts 9 and ID respectively.

The seat and back members 3 and '4 are each provided with tubular supporting members II and I 2 respectively, theends of which'extend into the side frames I and 2 and slide in vertically disposed slots I3 provided in the inside vertical members [4 of said side frames. The extreme ends of the supporting tubes H and I2 are each supported by vertically disposed slidable elements [5 and it, said elements at the forward part of the chair are supported by tension springs l1 and I8 and at the rearward part of the chair on compression springs l9 and 20 supported on rods 2! and 22 slidably mounted in tubular members 23 and 24, secured to the base plates of the side arms. The elements l5 and it are arranged to slide in elements 25 rigidly secured in the side arms adjacent the inside vertical walls I4, each of the elements 25 being furnished with a form of rack teeth 26, five on the front elements and six on the rear elements. The tubular supporting members I! and I2 are, as shown in Figure 6, provided with a slidable rod 2'! controlled by a spring 28. The rod is furnished adjacent each end with a cross pin 29 arranged to engage with the rack teeth 26. The left-hand end of the rod 21 in the supporting tube H and the opposite end of the rod in the tube I 2 are each provided with a forked member 30 in which is mounted a roller 3| arranged to bear against the edge of a plate 32 supported by means of brackets 33 secured to the side face of the elements 25. The plates 32 are arranged to have a vertical yet angular sliding movement in the brackets, by means of pins' 34, secured in thebrackets, arranged to pass through angularly disposed slots 35 provided in the plates 32.

The vertical movement is imparted to the plates 32 by a series of levers and links as shown in Figure 2, which illustrates the controlling mechanism for the supporting tube l2, said mechanism comprising a finger press plate 36 hinged at 31 to the upper front corner of the side frame 2, said plate being provided on its inner surface with a lever arm 38 to the free end of which is connected, by a link 39, one arm of a bellcrank lever 40 pivoted in the side frame, the other arm of the lever 40 being connected to a rearwardly directed link 4| the free end of which is connected to one arm of a second bell-crank lever 42 pivoted to the side frame at 43, the other arm of the lever 42 being connected by a downwardly directed link 44 the free end of which is directly connected to the plate 32 at 45 which latter is maintained in its lowermost position by a spring 46 the free end of which is anchored to the side frame.

The controlling mechanism for the front supporting tube H is substantially the same-as that above described, but in this case the sliding plate 32 is located in the front part of the side arm I which is provided with a finger press plate 41 furnished with a lever arm 48 to the free end of which is connected, by a link 49, a lever 50 pivoted at in the side frame, the extreme end of said lever being connected by a link 52v to the plate 32- norma-lly maintained in its lowermost position by a spring 53.

' For the purpose of providing means for a degree of approximately horizontal movement of theseat frame 3 as said frame moves from one extreme position to the other, the said. frame is provided at its forward end, in each of its side members with slots 54 in which the supporting tube l l is free to slide. To prevent the too free sliding movement of the seat, said movement may be controlled by means illustrated in Figure 5, comprising a flexible V-shaped strap 55 the apex 56 of which is connected by a spring 51 to the rear member of the frame 3 whilethe two free ends are first Wrapped around a tubular member 58, disposed parallel With and-supported bymeans of plates 58 on the supporting tube l l, the free ends of the strapbeing then secured to the front member of the frame at-59. 1 i

The final shape or form of the several frames may be varied by the attachment of preformed sheets of metal or other suitable material, said sheets being attached to the main frame by bolts or in any other convenient manner.

The upholstering of the several elements or frames is effected prior to the assembling of said elements or frames, each being upholstered separately.

To assemble the chair, the two side frames 1 and 2 are first placed in parallel relationship, the frontand rear spacing plate members 5 and 6 are placed in position together with the diagonally disposed straps. The seat and back frames 3 and tare connected together by hinge. pins 60, and are then mounted in the side arms by sliding the ends of the tubular supporting members H and i2 into'the elements l5 and I6, and to effect this the projecting end of each of the rods 21 is pressed inwardly against the action of the spring 28 and locked in this position by a transversely disposed sliding plate 6! (Figure 7) arranged to engage in an annular groove 62 provided in the rod 2L The end of the member H (or 12) furthest from the projecting end of the rod 21 is first slipped into the sliding element IS, the .pin 29 being vertically disposed so as to permit same to pass through the vertically disposed slots 63 in said part |5,tl1e opposite end of the tube is then-caused to enter the part [6, the member H 4 may now be given a quarter'turn to bring the pins 29 into a horizontal position so that when the rod 21 is released from the plate Bl, said pins will engage with the teeth 25 of their respective racks.

The supporting member I2 is assembled in position in the same manner, and, when both are assembled in position the rollers 3| on the ends of the rods 21 will be in engagement with their respective plates 32.

Assuming the several sections to have been correctly assembled and the chair is in order for use, further assuming that both the tubular supporting members II and 12 are in their highest position and that it is desired to drop say the back of the seat, the finger plate 36 is depressed by the left hand of the person sitting in the chair, the plate 32 (Fig. 4) is raised and presses the rod 2'! in the member l2 to the left thereby disengaging the pins 29 from the rack teeth 26, the rear part of the seat may now be depressed to the required extent.

If desired both the plates 36 and 41 may be simultaneously depressed and the seat and back adjusted to the desired position.

What I claimis:

1. An adjustable chair comprising a framework embodying two side frames constituting the arms and sides of the chair, means for securing said frames in rigid relationship, a back frame and a seat frame hinged together, the back frame being pivoted adjacent the lower end thereof and the seat frame being pivoted adjacent its front end, on tubular supporting members each of which is provided with a spring controlled rod furnished with cross pins for engaging a rack element secured in the side frames, and means mounted in said side frames for actuating said spring controlled rods to effect the release of the cross pins thereon from said rack elements when it is desired to vary the position of the seat and back frames.

2. An adjustable chair as claimed in claim 1, in which the tubular supporting members are mounted in elements slidably mounted in the side frames, those at the forward part of the chair being supported by tension springs and those at the rearward part of the chair on compression springs supported on rods slidably mounted in tubular members secured to the side frames.

3. An adjustable chair as claimed in claim 1, in which the means for eifecting and controlling the movements of the back and seatframes comprises, afinger press piate pivotally mounted in the side frames said plate being connected by levers and links to a vertically and angularly movable plate, said plate serving, when raised, to actuate the spring controlled rod contained in the supporting members.

CHARLES MAXWELL ROSCOE on BUIRE- PANTER.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

. UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 153,4 78 Cutter July 28, 1874 717,026 Ostendorf Dec. 30, 1902 1,288,272 Sulo Dec. 17, 1918 

